This blog begins with me sitting in a Starbucks on the corner of Park and 87th waiting for the Russian Consulate to process my visa. I was once told by a Friend that you should expect everything in Russia to take three times longer than you would think, so that when it only takes twice as long, you are pleasantly surprised. I arrived at the consulate this morning at 9:00 for a 9:30 opening and there were already seventy-five people in line. Fortunately with Russians lines mean nothing. As soon as the doors opened it was more of a mad dash to form a mass in front of the door so we could most comfortably wait an hour to get in. Upon entering I was made aware that they do not accept personal checks so I had to call Mom, have her transfer money to my ATM so I could get cash, so I could get a money order, so I could wait in line again to get back into the consulate, to get my visa processed. An hour and a half later I was back in the consulate, only to be told that my invitation to Russia requested a dual entry visa, not a single entry visa, so I had to go back to the bank to get another money order for the additional sixty dollars it cost for a dual entry visa. (You can see how this process gets tiring very quickly). After waiting another hour to get in and avoiding the turf war that was starting between the Greeks, the Turks and the Russian waiting to get inn with me, I paid for the visa, which they kindly accepted and began to process my visa. I guess three times longer is a fair estimate... Which brings me to Starbucks, waiting here before I get in line at the consulate to get to get in, to get my visa.
Upsides to this taking so long:
-everyone around me speaks Russian, great practice
-I get to spend a day in the City (Its 50, windy, with scattered showers)
-I get to feel like a hipster, blogging in Starbucks
I'm writing this halfway through my NYC visa trip in hopes that posting this now will prevent anything else "bloggable" from happening.
3 comments:
ummm...why did you have to post that scary picture of yourself?? You legit almost made me cry.
and it might only be because i´m so odna with our whole class gone 4eva.
That picture shows my general feeling towards waiting in line and embassies. I was in starbucks
Hey Craig - loved the picture....not horribly complimentary to your good looks but definitely evidence of your disgust with the timeliness of the process. Your blog entry made me feel like I was there but, you know, while sitting in CT with 80 degrees and blue skies. I just came back from dropping Dhera at the airport. She came out to see Katie's dance recital. Kyla and Jay came. Got to get you there someday guy. She's getting quite good. Obama spoke at Weslyan's commencement in place of Edward Kennedy. Wish I could have heard him. That's all from me for now. Katie says hi. Love you! Keep the blog entries going, Aunt Martha
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